Friday, August 13, 2010

The Rev. Laura Sheridan-Campbell of Carlsbad believes she has found a match in the Holy Cross Episcopal Church.Sheridan-Campbell has been an ordained priest for 16 years, and recently earned her doctorate from Church Divinity School of The Pacific in Berkeley. She previously served at churches in Iowa, her home state, and Texas. This is her first assignment since she went back to school full-time. She had her first service as the vicar of Holy Cross on July 4.

She said she found the employment listing in the Episcopal Church's online database and described the job description as "amazing."

"The more I learned about Holy Cross, the more I believed that my gifts would be well-matched with their needs and hopes," she said. "I am very interested in the rebuilding effort of churches that have suffered division and loss."

The elevation of an openly gay, divorced priest in 2003 to a position as bishop led many Episcopalian congregations across the country to change their affiliation from the local Episcopal bishop to other bishops in the global Anglican Communion. (The Episcopal Church is the name of the branch of the Anglican Communion in the United States, although a rival organization created by breakaway Episcopal congregations is also seeking recognition.)Among those congregations breaking away locally were most of the members of Holy Cross. The former vicar, the Rev. Michael Nee, left to help form an Anglican congregation, Good Shepherd, under the authority of a Bolivian bishop.